Mustangs tame the Broncs in their NWOC opener

Sophomore transfer Tieara Norman shines for Milwaukie girls

PARKROSE  Milwaukie dominated the field events and the Mustangs cruised to victory in their Northwest Oregon Conference track and field openers.

The Mustang girls swept the shot put, javelin, discus, pole vault and 3,000-meter run en route to a 102-32 shellacking of their Parkrose counterparts.

The Mustang boys swept the javelin, triple jump, pole vault and 1,500-meter run en route to an 89-2/3 to 55-1/3 dual win.

Tieara Norman, a transfer from Gladstones 2013 Class 4A state championship team, starred for Milwaukie girls. The sophomore talent won the long jump with an impressive early-season leap of 17-6-1/2, breezed to a 16.59 clocking and first place in the 100-meter hurdles, and paced herself to a 49.28 clocking for first place in the 300-meter hurdles.

Normans mark in the long jump ranks her No. 3 on Milwaukies all-time school bests list for the event, back of Kathy Wehr (18-3 in 1985) and Alicia Smith (17-7 in 1990).

Norman competed in a meet at Sandy over the weekend and won the low hurdles in 47.41 and the high hurdles in 16.52, and she leaped 17-5-3/4 for second place in the long jump. The mark in the low hurdles ranks her fifth all-time at Milwaukie in that event, and she is 10th all-time in the high hurdles.

Through competition last weekend, Normans marks ranked her first in the state in Class 5A in the low hurdles, first in the state in 5A in the long jump, and second in the state in 5A in the high hurdles.

Normans best marks during her freshman year at Gladstone were 46.26 in the low hurdles, 17-8 in the long jump and 15.5 in the high hurdles.

Senior Dante Meade demonstrated that he still has his stuff, as he won three events for Milwaukie boys in last weeks meet with the Broncos. Meade set the pace in the 100-meter dash, at 11.84, outclassed the field with an effort of 43-7-1/2 in the triple jump, and soared 21-5 in the long jump, for an easy win in that event.

Junior Annette Sansburn was a double winner for Milwaukie girls, leading the sweeps of the shot put (32-6) and discus (77-8).

Other winners for Milwaukie girls included: senior Becky Ponnay in the 400 (1:05.28), senior Nada Mannai in the 3,000 (13:56.53), sophomore Araceli Paxton in the javelin (79-8), sophomore Samantha Persad in the high jump (4-8) and freshman Shelby Jarvis in the pole vault (8-0).

Sophomore Max Doman was a double winner for Milwaukie boys, setting the pace in the 1,500 (4:57.86) and in the 3,000 (10:30.49).

Other winners for Milwaukie boys included: senior Chris Spanovich in the 800 (2:11.15), junior Griffin Johnson in the pole vault (12-6), sophomore Tui Tuitele in the shot put (41-2) and sophomore River Meyer in the javelin (136-4).

Milwaukie girls placed eighth in the team scoring at last Saturdays 12-team Sandy Invitational, with three girls doing all of the scoring  Norman, Ponnay and sophomore Kenady Hammond.

Ponnay placed second in the 400 (1:02.59) and sixth in the 100 (28.09). Hammond placed sixth in the discus (92-0).

Milwaukie girls coach Barrie Malcolm says it will be a building year for Milwaukie in girls track this spring.

We lost a lot of seniors to graduation, Malcolm said. Were young, and well get better. Our goals are individual improvement and being the best that we can be by district.

Malcolm says he expects Norman to be a force at this years state meet, and he believes Ponnay (400 meters), Sansburn (shot put) and senior Megan Miettinen (sprints) also have the potential to qualify for the Class 5A State Meet.

Milwaukie boys had hard luck in Saturdays meet at Sandy, as two of their top athletes did not compete. Senior Dante Meade was sidelined when he suffered a hamstring pull during warmups and his brother Devin Meade, a sophomore, missed his top event because of confusion as to when his heat of the event was to begin.

The two brothers entered the meet with the two best marks among entrants in the triple jump and Dante entered the meet favored in the long jump.